Kapaa returns to title game

LIHUE >> Maybe this is the year for the Garden Isle.

Kapaa, the three-time defending Kauai Interscholastic Federation champion, staved off Damien’s late comeback attempt for a 21-14 win Saturday in the Division II semifinals of the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Football State Championships.

The victory at Vidinha Stadium gets Kapaa back to where it went last year — the D-II state final — on Friday at Aloha Stadium against Lahainaluna.

This time, the Warriors (8-1), who were the runners-up to Radford a year ago, are determined to take it all. No football team from Kauai has done it.

“It’s a pretty good feeling going back again, especially since this is my last year,” Kapaa two-way standout Kapena Texeira said. “Hopefully, we’ll come through. It will be a great experience for the young kids on the team and the whole program.”

Texeira had a lot to do with the finishing off of the hungry Monarchs (7-3), who nearly pulled it out. With the Warriors clinging to a seven-point lead deep into the fourth quarter, Texeira made a hit on Damien running back Justice White at the Kapaa 3-yard line. White fumbled and Texeira’s teammate Akio Billy Tolenna recovered to save the day.

It appeared that White’s momentum had been stopped before the fumble. Damien coach Eddie Klaneski, who said the last thing he wanted to do was point fingers at the referees, thought he heard the whistle blow.

“Apparently, they didn’t blow the whistle,” Klaneski said.

Two other close calls went against the Monarchs, including one on fourth down on what turned out to be their last possession. A Marcus Faufata-Pedrina pass went to Deacon Kapea near the left sideline. He appeared to make the catch for a first down and fell, but the officials ruled he dropped the ball and Damien lost the ball on downs.

Texeira, a 5-foot-11, 250-pound defensive lineman and running back, continued full throttle on his closer job. He ran the ball three straight times for a Kapaa first down, including a thundering 31-yard gain in which he broke a five-person gang tackle and then dragged Damien’s Shawn Borges for about 5 yards. Later, on a third-down play with the clock running down the final 10 seconds, Texeira fumbled a direct snap but picked it up for a 9-yard loss as time ran out.

“Oh yeah!” Warriors head coach Philip Rapozo said loudly, when asked if he was freaking out on that play. “And then when he didn’t jump on it and tried to pick it up with nobody on our team behind him. We were lucky on that.

“That guy (Texeira) is a soldier, though. He’s a train. He’s done that type of stuff all season. He wanted the ball. We gave him the ball and he got the j0b done.”

Another close call hurt the Damien cause. This one happened with four seconds left in the first half and Kapaa leading 21-0. Faufata-Pedrina appeared to find James Kapilioha Livingston-Lopez in the back of the end zone for a 4-yard TD, but the officials ruled the play was behind the end line.

“I couldn’t tell from where I was; he may have been out,” Klaneski said. “There were two officials there. We’ve got to live with that. That was huge. We needed to score on that drive.”

Kapaa dominated the first half, scoring three times, including Texeira’s 1-yard touchdown on the opening 15-play, 74-yard drive that lasted 6 minutes and 58 seconds. Early in the second quarter, the Warriors made it 14-0 on the running of Ryan Banasihan, who set up his own 2-yard TD run with a 23-yard sweep to the right.

Dusten Ramseyer-Burdett’s interception and 79-yard TD return upped the count to 21-0.

Damien, the Interscholastic League of Honolulu D-II champ, began to show life and finally got on the board with a 92-yard third-quarter drive, capped by Faufata-Pedrina’s 25-yard TD strike to Kapilioha Livingston-Lopez.

After the Warriors’ Clifton Oliver missed a 43-yard field goal, the Monarchs went back to work for an 80-yard drive. This time, Shaun Apiki was the recipient of a 13-yard scoring pass from Faufata-Pedrina to make it 21-14 with 9:10 to go.

“That’s why they call it a game of two halves,” Kapaa’s Rapozo said. “We won the first half and they almost won the second. I was surprised we jumped out on them that early because they’re a really good team and well coached. We were lucky to do that. I think that’s what gave us the win. Get them early and they had to fight back.”

Added Klaneski: “We did not play well at the beginning of the game. They were bigger and more physical than we thought from what we saw on film. We didn’t wake up until the second half. I’m proud of my guys, man. We came back. We stopped them on defense in the second half and we just ran out of time. A couple of mistakes here and there lost the game for us. Kapaa had a great game plan and they made a couple of more plays than we did.”